Heretofore, .beta.-nitroenamine has been known as a unique and important compound having the reactivities of both enamine and nitroolefin. Also, it is known as a basic structure of agricultural insecticides and is an extremely important compound as an intermediate of medicines and agrochemicals because of its easy derivation to various heterocycles. As the production process thereof, there have been known various methods such as condensation of .alpha.-nitrocarbonyl compound with an amine in the presence or absence of titanium tetrachloride catalyst [see J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 78,3405 (1956); Nippon Kagaku Kaishi, 88 (1983)], substitution reaction of nitroolefins containing a good leaving group (e.g. a halogen, an alkoxyl, an alkylthio, a nitro, an amino group, etc.) at its .beta.-position with an amine [see Tetrahedron, Vol. 37,1453 (1981)], condensation of ethyl cyanoformate with nitromethane [see Tetrahedron Letters, 2525 (1979)] and the like.
However, each of the method described above is disadvantageous in that the reaction yield is low or preparation of the starting material is difficult or other disadvantages. Therefore, it has been desired to synthesize .beta.-nitroenamine simply in good yield from easily available compounds.